Winter Park delays plans for City Hall

Plans for Winter Park's new City Hall are being put on hold until next year so the city and developer can receive more input from a public increasingly critical of redevelopment.

"There seems to be a lot of care and concern among citizens, and rightly so, about all the development going on," said Joel Pizzuti, executive vice president of The Pizzuti Cos. "It will give us time to refine the design to make sure it's the right design for the city."

Mayor Kip Marchman said he stressed to the developer that there should be plenty of time to gather resident input about the future of the city site on Park Avenue. An early proposal envisioned a mix of City Hall, retail, parking garage and residences at the corner with Lyman Avenue.

The development team includes Ohio-based Pizzuti, Winter Park's Keewin Real Property Co. and Paul Bryan of Grover Bryan Inc. The last two also are partners in the redevelopment of the post-office site, called The Carlisle.

Residents packed a meeting last week at which city commissioners approved the developer's agreement for The Carlisle, but concern about the scale and character of the construction extends beyond any single project.

"I think a lot of it was the cumulative number of projects," Marchman said Wednesday, speaking to the Orlando Sentinel editorial board.

City commissioners unanimously approved moving ahead with the Pizzuti team March 28. At that time, the hope was to have a formal plan for the site by the end of the year.

There is no consensus among city commissioners on the concept, much less among residents.

People recognize the need for a modern City Hall but want to make sure the private aspects of the project are complementary to the City Hall, which would be the focal point, Pizzuti said.